


What's it Like?

by SpellCasterLight



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Feelings of Loneliness, Kissing, Mild Feelings of Envy, Shino Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29332263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCasterLight/pseuds/SpellCasterLight
Summary: The weapon users eyes seemed to sparkle then, and she bit her lip in a timid way. "What's it like to be you?" [Shino x Tenten] Shino Week - Day 2 Prompt: Family and Friends
Relationships: Aburame Shino/Tenten
Kudos: 4
Collections: Written stories for Shino Week 2021





	What's it Like?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. This story is purely for entertainment not profit.
> 
> Author's Notes: My first ever Shino Week story! So the prompt was 'Family and Friends' and I sort of did both in a weird way, never a straight forward thought in my brain I swear. Gotta say, I really liked writing this =]
> 
> Pairing Warning: It also goes without saying but if [Shino x Tenten] isn't your thing turn back now.
> 
> Warnings: Feelings of Loneliness. Mild Feelings of Envy. Light Kissing Scene.
> 
> Shino Week - Day 2 Prompt: Family and Friends

"Shino! Hi!"

A voice behind him called out making him turn.

"Tenten; what a pleasant surprise," he greeted his grinning and waving friend. "How are you this afternoon?"

"Can't complain!" She smiled brightly. "Was just heading for some target practise," the bun haired girl looked to her left, then to her right, then back to him. "You by yourself?"

The insect user barely held in a sigh. "My team; are once again; expressing their inability; to show up on time."

She threw him a sympathetic grimace.

"I can't say anything!" The weapons user laughed. "Being in a team with Lee and Gai I'm usually the slow poke!"

The Aburame heir expected her to head on then and leave him by himself again, but she took on a thoughtful expression, he was about to enquire what had her so contemplative when she spoke again.

"Hey; can I ask you something I've always kind of wondered?"

That had him interested. "You may."

The weapon users eyes seemed to sparkle then, and she bit her lip in a timid way. "What's it like to be you?"

He blinked behind his goggles at that.

"Pardon? I'm afraid; I do not; understand your question."

"You know;" her hands fluttered in front of her in contained excitement as a smile broke out on her face. "With the clan, and being the heir, and the _kekkei genkai_ ," she stressed the last one almost bouncing in excitement. "What's it like?"

He was about to correct her when she suddenly pulled on his sleeve, Tenten took advantage of his momentary surprise by shoving his two sleeves up to show his forearm.

"Can you make them come out?" Her voice had even more enthusiasm in it then.

He blinked again. "My hive?"

The weapons mistress openly rolled her eyes. "No, your antlers; of course your hive!"

Shino frowned then, was she making fun of him? "Why; would you wish for me to do that?"

She shrugged in a light way. "I'm interested. I always have been. Come on; show me!"

The insect tamer humoured her, by allowing a few to leave him through a single hole in his arm. He expected to see the usual fear or disgust, but she fully confounded him when she ran an, almost, caring, finger over one of the beetles before circling the opening in his arm with her forefinger tip instead.

"That's-" she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "-I don't even know what to call that."

"The word; creepy; has been used," a memory of Kiba shouting that at him when their Genin team was first put together came to mind.

"I was going more for fascinating," she ran her thumb over the opening this time, only the lightest touch.

Tenten looked downright concerned for him then. "Does it hurt?"

It took him a second to realise it was the first time anyone had ever asked him something like that, he had truly drawn so many wrong conclusions about what the weapons user wanted when she started asking him questions. "It; does not. Not anymore."

The bun haired girl looked alarmed at his response.

"So, it did?" She asked back, uneasiness in her voice. "At one point?"

The insect tamer nodded, only making her look more distressed. "Only when I was very young; I can barely remember it hurting; it is; so; far; in my past."

The Team Gai member held his wrist in both her hands then, a light, and gentle grip, her thumbs brushing over his pulse.

"I'm so sorry they did that to you."

He had never heard that before either, her caring tone made his heart give a particularly hard thump.

"They are a part of me; a part of my family; and a part of my clan. I cannot imagine; living; any other way."

The brown-haired girl suddenly looked ashamed. "I didn't mean it like that-"

"You meant; to be empathetic to my past pain," his hand came up to cover hers, to calm her at her perceived insulting of his family. "It is a sign of a caring person; nothing you need apologise for."

He saw her shoulders relax and a smile reappear on her face. Her thumbs brushed over his skin again before she broke the silence.

"Show me," she lifted her head to beam at him. "Show me what it's like to be you."

Tenten looked around before pulling him over to the tree line around the edge of the training fields.

"Sit!" The Team Gai member instructed, even as she half shoved him to sit with his back against a tree trunk.

The bun haired girl moved his legs open further, making him freeze behind his collar, and she then spun to sit between his legs, with her back firmly against his chest. She frowned for a second before sitting on her haunches and undoing his black coats collar and zip and pulling both his coats open, his hood falling down on its own, so both coats nearly sat off his shoulders.

"Tenten!" he uncharacteristically yelped in surprise.

"Oh, it's fine!" She batted her hand with an eye roll. "No one's going to see! It's only the two of us here!"

That was what he was afraid off.

She then sat back down with her back fully moulded to his chest, so much so her head had to tilt on to lie on his shoulder.

"What; exactly; is it you wish to see?" Shino asked past the lump in his throat, he was glad she was facing away from him because he was sure his face was covered in a light pink at being manhandled in such a way.

She took his hands and brought them, positioning them in such a way that the top of his hand, meet her palm, and each individual finger was below her counterpart.

"I want to move your hands and fingers," the weapons mistress pushed her forefingers down then, forcing his down at the same time, as a show of what she planned. "And see what happens when your beetles are out!"

That wasn't how Kikaichu worked, they didn't react and move to hand movements like what she was describing; but she sounded so excited and interested.

"Can you release them?"

He let his beetles out as normal, and he felt her take a quick breath when they moved through the newly made holes in his forearms and out his coat sleeves. Shino heard her let out a happy, entertained, noise then, as she watched them swirl above them for a moment.

"You don't release them through your hands?"

"Not usually no," he told her factually. "Usually it is my forearms; more surface area for them; to be released through."

Tenten gave a deep hum in understanding and then laughed when his hive hummed back.

She turned in her position to place her hand over his heart and plant her ear against his chest. Humming again, louder this time and, his hive responded again, making her give a grin and a girlie giggle then.

"What; are you doing?" The Aburame asked, his newly freed hands holding her shoulders.

"Talking to them," she blinked in contemplation. "I think;" the weapons user looked up at him then. "Why do they hum?"

"Communication."

She looked truly mystified. "What are they saying?"

Tenten hummed, louder than before and his hive, liking her tone, replied in kind.

"They are not so much; speaking; to you; but; to each other," he felt himself swallow, nearly embarrassed by what he was about to reveal. "They; like the tone of your voice; when you hum."

Tenten smiled at that, taking it as the compliment his hive meant it to be, humming again for good measure before slowly turning and retaking his hands.

When she made herself comfy again, with his hive making random movements through the air she moved her fingers individually, making his copy hers, and she seemed to catch on then, when his hive remained stationery, not copying the movements she thought they would do, that that was not how they were controlled.

"If you don't have to make hand movements to direct them," Shino felt her turn her head, her breath against the underside of his chin when she next spoke. "How do they know where to go?"

"They react to my will; my thoughts; and my silent direction," the hive user informed her. "You are treating them like inanimate objects; that need to be; individually; controlled. You are moving your fingers; like they are attached with chakra strings."

"Doing what I know I guess," she moved her face even more to the side, so her forehead pressed into the column of his throat now. "Can they read your mind then?"

"In a way," he tried to take a deep breath in a way she wouldn't feel. "They can hear my requests; my commands."

She enclosed her fists then around his, closing his hands completely, and set them on his raised knees; she looked like she was a queen relaxing in a throne.

"Can you show me?"

Without moving his hands, a small portion of his hive drifted down to them and Tenten let out a small noise of surprise when he made them land in her hair, a few seconds later his beetles had cut through the bands holding her hair up, letting her brown tresses fall to lie around her shoulders.

"You need to replace those," he could tell by her tone she was pretending to glare at him.

"Move your head forward."

The weapons user did as he asked, even, when she was sitting up, and he could see the side of her face, that she was confused by the request.

His hive came down again, and moved to the back of her head, and Shino saw her back straighten.

"Do not be afraid; they will not hurt you; if I do not wish it."

"I'm not afraid," she told him, and he was taken back at the force of the firm confidence she had in him to keep her safe, other people would be frightful. Shino saw the edges of her lips turn upwards. "I know you wouldn't hurt me."

His beetles worked at the knot of her headband before pulling it away and dropping it, with her excellent reflexes she caught the black and metal item before it hit the ground.

The weapons user only looked entertained.

"I can't deny, they're _really_ cool."

"My father would like you," he didn't know where that statement came from, but the more he thought about it, it was true.

Tenten turned to look directly at him then, smiling brightly.

"Me? How come?"

"Your interest in our hives is genuine and warm; that is; quite rare."

Her smile left her then, to be replaced by a sad, understanding, expression.

The weapons mistress turned and fell back into him, tossing her headband into the grass, and he realised he missed the warmth of her only now that it was back.

"I always wanted a kekkei genkai when I was in The Academy;" she suddenly confessed, in a wispy, airy sort of far off voice. "I was jealous of everyone who had one, Hyugas, Sasuke; the Aburame. I was so unbelievably jealous of all of you."

He found himself pressing his nose into her hair, her chocolate locks smelt vaguely of mint leaves and, he could have imagined it, but he felt her move into it.

"Do you feel; differently; towards the subject now?"

The hive user felt her sigh.

"Yes and no."

Shino felt himself move his face further into her hair at her tone, as if he could comfort her that way.

"Will you tell me how so? If I can help; I would like to."

He actually _heard_ her smile. "Can you go back in time and ask my mother to sleep with a clan member instead of my dad?"

The Aburame heir dropped his chin to rest on her shoulder at that, and he felt her shoulder move up and down in silent laughter.

"No; I believe that is not; in the realm; of my abilities."

"Well;" he imagined her grinning. "No one's perfect Shino."

Tenten's breath ghosted over the sensitive skin of his neck again.

"It was only after I joined a team with Neji that I realised it wasn't the kekkei genkai I wanted, not really," she gripped his hands again and moved his arms from resting on his knees to wrap around her waist in a hug; from his new position he could feel her take a deep inhale. "It was the clan family I wanted instead."

He heard her gulp before taking a few quick breaths.

"I got so tired of being alone."

His arms tightened around her waist.

"Got? " he repeated as a question.

"I guess;" her thumbs ran themselves over his knuckles. "I guess I'm used to it now."

He didn't know what to say to that, his life had been the exact opposite, he couldn't remember a single moment in his life he had ever been truly alone, his hive were with him since he was born, and he lived in quite a large compound with people constantly coming and going; but he didn't want silence to envelope them either.

"You were incorrect; by the way."

She turned her head again, so her forehead pressed into his neck. "About what?"

"The Aburame do not have a kekkei genkai;" he could actually feel her frown at that. "Kekkei genkai are received biologically, you have them from birth; we receive our hives only after we are born."

"Oh," Tenten let out a long breath in, what he assumed, was understanding. "I thought you were trying to tell me what I felt was wrong and we were about to have some strong words," she laughed.

He tightened his grip around her waist without really thinking about it. "I would never; say such a thing."

"I know that, I do," she reassured, her fingers dancing over his knuckles like before. "I shouldn't have thought you would."

It finally occurred to him what point he wanted to make and exactly how to make it.

He raised their joint left hands, so their palms were skyward, and he allowed a few of his beetles to crawl over their joint hands.

"How do you believe; the Aburame hives; begin?"

"Begin? Like; how are they created? A;" she gave a slow shrug of her shoulders; she must have thought there was some sort of trick to his question. "Male and female?"

"Yes;" he confirmed, and he felt her relax at that. "As new-borns we don't receive a swarm; we simply receive one female; and one male; and the hive grows naturally over time."

"You have only seen the hive at its highest occupancy; so; it is simple to forget its roots. A hive of thousands; begins with two. The same can be said; for clans and families."

She interlocked the fingers of their lifted left hands and flipped them over, to watch his hive run over the back of his hand.

"I do not believe that family is simply a family name; I believe; what truly makes a family are who you choose to be in your life; who you hold close; people who hold you close."

"You're saying to make my own family;" the bun haired girl concluded correctly, and he could hear the smile in her voice. "With people I care about, and people who care about me."

"I can already think of; two; handfuls of people; who would happily; join your clan Tenten."

Shino saw her grin out of the corner of his eye, he could only see her face that way because of how close she was. "If I had a clan; the symbol would totally be two crossed kunai! And we would be known for kicking so much butt!"

She kicked out her leg with a 'hiyah!' making her throw her head back onto his shoulder and laugh.

"What do you say Shino?" He felt her grin into his throat. "Want to make a clan with me?"

The bug user had to lower his head onto her shoulder to hide his expression because the _imagery_ that came with such a statement.

"How about; we try; dinner; first?"

Tenten slid her head further across his shoulder to be able to see his face; only then did it really hit the Aburame heir what way that sounded. Sensing a polite dismissal, he was about to apologise when she smiled at him.

"I could do dinner," the weapons user gave him such a loving smile then. "I'd like that."

After, only a moment's hesitation, she raised her left hand over her shoulder to run her fingers through his hair, her nails just scraping the skin of his scalp making him shiver; when she pulled his head down he gasped silently against her lips. His wits came back to him when she released him, and he saw pink dash over her cheeks coupled with a disarming smile.

"Too much?" She asked, and it was probably the first time he had ever heard, or saw, the weapons mistress actually nervous.

He shook his head lightly making her smile solidify.

"No," Shino whispered bringing her lips to his then. "Not at all."

The angle should have been awkward; with him leaning over her and her head draped over his shoulder; he was practically kissing her upside down, but Kami knows he didn't care. She tasted wonderful, like warm berries, and when she managed to turn, not breaking the kiss, so they were kissing sideways instead, more around each other, more together than apart, Shino felt a warmth spread through his chest and a relaxed, happy, feeling filter through his mind like he had never known.

"What; are you two doing?"

The sound of Kiba's voice made him still; why oh _why_ did his teammates pick _then_ to show up?

Shino saw and felt the girl in his arms, pull away from their kiss, sit up and grin, running a hand through her undone hair. "Hi guys, Shino was just;" she shrugged with a carefree, upwards, flick of her hand. "Showing me his hive."

"Clearly looks like he wanted to show you something else."

Hinata blushed crimson at the dog owner's words, and Shino felt himself flinch in crushed humiliation; thinking Tenten was about to run off. The weapons mistress, however, seemed to take it in her stride.

"Oh, you think so huh?" She turned to shoot the Aburame a flirtatious wink over her shoulder. "Want to show me at my house then? I've got a perfectly good bedroom and it's suddenly so _crowded_ here," Tenten stood then, grabbing his hand in one hand and her abandoned headband in the other. "Let's go Shino."

The Aburame heir turned back to look at his teammates when him and Tenten were leaving the training grounds.

Hinata had actually passed out with Tenten's implications and Kiba looked a strange combination of proud and jealous.


End file.
